The present invention addresses the problem of what to do when a bottle or container containing some useful product has been nearly depleted of that product whereby the product itself is located at the very bottom of the container or bottle when that container or bottle is standing on its base.
For example, a consumer purchases a bottle of salad dressing. After almost all of the salad dressing has been used, there still remains some salad dressing at the bottom of the bottle. The salad dressing remaining at the bottom of the bottle is extremely difficult and painstakingly slow to extricate from the bottle. Often times this last remaining salad dressing is thrown away by the consumer due to the difficulty in extricating it from the bottle.
The determined consumer will often balance the bottle on its top (inverted position) within the refrigerator or other area where the bottle is normally stored. However, a basic problem with the inversion technique results from the fact that bottle/containers are designed to be maximally stable in their upright position, i.e., to have a low center of gravity. Therefore, the bottle/containers inherently have high centers of gravity when inverted, and are thus unstable or prone to fall over. Because the bottles are generally shaped with a large base and a small head, this balancing act becomes precarious. The bottle itself often times falls over in the refrigerator or other storage area, knocking other items over in that storage area, and causing a general headache to the consumer. To prevent the bottle from falling over, the consumer will often times situate the bottle or container so that it is squeezed between other items within the storage area causing those other items to act as a brace for the inverted bottle or container.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a device which allows a container with a relatively high center of gravity to be securely supported in an inverted position.
Another object is to provide a device which simplifies the process of removing remaining material from a nearly empty container.
Another object is to minimize spills, waste and complications which typically occur in the process of attempting to remove the last remaining material from a nearly empty container, particularly containers which hold typically refrigerated relatively viscous materials.